Optimism Roundup: Scaling up impact with seaweed, solar and circular solutions

Notpla’s seaweed-based packaging is now being used at three major Welsh stadiums: Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Cardiff City Football Club and Swansea Football Club.

In partnership with Compass Cymru and Levy UK + Ireland, the switch will replace around 750,000 plastic items each year with Notpla’s compostable alternatives. This is estimated to save around 1.4 tonnes of plastic waste and over 14 tonnes of CO₂ each year.

As the 2022 Earthshot Prize Winner for Build a Waste-Free World, Notpla is proving that biodegradable packaging can work at scale. This rollout shows how the company’s innovation is cutting waste in high-footfall settings, making sustainable choices easy and practical for fans, venues and food operators alike.

Boomitra’s 1.5 million-acre grasslands project in northern Mexico is now Verra-certified, meaning it can sell verified carbon credits to companies that use them to offset their own emissions.

Spanning the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts, the project works with 139 ranchers to support regenerative grazing, which improves soil health and boosts biodiversity, which helps the land naturally absorb more carbon.

Across all its projects, Boomitra’s AI and satellite technology has already helped remove over 10 million tonnes of CO₂ across more than 5 million acres worldwide. This new Verra certification strengthens the credibility of their work and shows that sustainable land management can play a powerful role in tackling climate change.

National Geographic and David Attenborough are joining forces to shine a spotlight on the health of our oceans in a major new TV documentary featuring the vital work of Earthshot Prize Finalist Pristine Seas.

Pristine Seas is a leader in ocean conservation, establishing marine protected areas that cover over 6.8 million square kilometres – more than twice the size of India! This new documentary will bring urgent ocean issues to a global audience, inspiring action to safeguard our blue planet.

Premiering this May in London, the film will be available to watch on National Geographic, Disney+ and Hulu. This documentary could not come at a more important time, ahead of the United Nation’s Ocean Conference in June this year.

Green Spot Technologies, the company behind 2024 Earthshot Prize Finalist Ferment’Up, has partnered with Conesa, one of Europe’s leading tomato processing companies.

Their partnership will use GST’s innovative fermentation process to transform vast quantities of tomato skins and seeds into valuable ingredients, significantly reducing food waste and boosting sustainability across the food production chain.

A new plant will produce 600 tonnes of these ingredients each year, helping to enhance tomato-based recipes while cutting waste. The result? Tastier products that are better for the planet – a win all round.

As an Earthshot Prize Finalist, Ferment’Up is at the forefront of circular food innovation. This partnership marks a major step towards a more sustainable future for the food industry.

2024 Earthshot Prize Finalist d.light has joined the World Bank-backed DARES programme to expand access to renewable solar energy in Nigeria, aiming to reach up to 17.5 million people across rural and underserved communities.

The initiative is part of a broader push to strengthen energy infrastructure and resilience in the country, particularly in areas where access to electricity remains limited or unreliable. This large-scale rollout will be life-changing, bringing clean, consistent power to homes, schools, and healthcare centres where it’s needed most.

With a strong track record delivering solar solutions across Africa, d.light is helping to boost economic growth, create jobs, and support essential services through sustainable energy. Joining DARES marks a major step towards their mission of transforming 1 billion lives through access to solar energy by 2030.